Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, has upgraded services on three key Asian routes this week, introducing larger aircraft to accommodate growing demand.

Flights between the UAE capital, Abu
Dhabi, and major two Chinese cities, Shanghai and Chengdu, have been upgraded
with next-generation Boeing 787 Dreamliners, while the South Korean city of Seoul
has been boosted from a Dreamliner to an Airbus A380 ‘super jumbo’.

“Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing air
transport region in the world, and China is the fastest-growing individual
market,” said Robin Kamark, Chief Commercial Officer of Etihad Airways.

“As we continue to modernise our aircraft
fleet, and as we work with tourism partners to increase visitor numbers to Abu
Dhabi, we are deploying newer, larger planes to key markets throughout our
network.”

Chengdu, in south-central China, is a
city of 7.4 million people. Etihad has upgraded its daily Abu Dhabi – Chengdu
flights from 262-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft to 299-seat Boeing 787s, a 14
per cent increase in seats.

Shanghai, China’s largest city, with a
population of more than 24 million, has been upgraded from Boeing 787-9
aircraft to larger Boeing 787-10 jets, seating 336 passengers, up 12 per cent.

And Seoul, the capital of South Korea,
with a population approaching 10 million, has been upgraded by Etihad from the
Boeing 787-10 to the 494-seat Airbus A380, a massive 47 per cent increase.

With the upgrades of the Shanghai and
Chengdu routes, Etihad now operates Dreamliners to all four of its China
gateways, having introduced these planes to Hong Kong and Beijing earlier this
year. Recently, Dreamliners have also been deployed to London and Rome, and
still to come this year, Etihad will introduce these aircraft to markets
including Frankfurt, Milan, Dublin, Johannesburg and Lagos.